UBS Group Issues Positive Forecast for Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) Stock Price

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) had its price target increased by UBS Group from $185.00 to $195.00 in a report issued on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock.

MU has been the subject of several other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Micron Technology in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $130.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Micron Technology from $170.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on Micron Technology from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. KeyCorp raised their target price on Micron Technology from $160.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, TD Cowen raised their target price on Micron Technology from $150.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $184.77.

Micron Technology Trading Down 2.8%

Shares of MU stock opened at $161.71 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $180.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.31 and a beta of 1.47. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $126.57 and a 200-day moving average of $107.07. The company has a current ratio of 2.75, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Micron Technology has a 1-year low of $61.54 and a 1-year high of $170.45.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.34. The company had revenue of $9.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.83 billion. Micron Technology had a return on equity of 17.69% and a net margin of 22.84%.During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.62 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Micron Technology will post 6.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Micron Technology Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 3rd will be issued a $0.115 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 3rd. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Micron Technology’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.29%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Sumit Sadana sold 92,638 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.49, for a total value of $11,625,142.62. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 201,326 shares in the company, valued at $25,264,399.74. This trade represents a 31.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Manish H. Bhatia sold 80,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.16, for a total value of $9,852,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 275,067 shares in the company, valued at $33,877,251.72. This represents a 22.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 255,946 shares of company stock valued at $32,306,159. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Micron Technology by 1.9% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 103,879,662 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $12,803,168,000 after purchasing an additional 1,973,294 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Micron Technology by 2.7% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 51,373,591 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $6,331,795,000 after acquiring an additional 1,349,713 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Micron Technology by 1.2% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,690,491 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $3,152,974,000 after acquiring an additional 314,489 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Micron Technology during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,980,700,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Micron Technology by 23.8% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 10,616,488 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $922,467,000 after acquiring an additional 2,038,641 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.84% of the company’s stock.

About Micron Technology

Micron Technology, Inc designs, develops, manufactures, and sells memory and storage products worldwide. The company operates through four segments: Compute and Networking Business Unit, Mobile Business Unit, Embedded Business Unit, and Storage Business Unit. It provides memory and storage technologies comprising dynamic random access memory semiconductor devices with low latency that provide high-speed data retrieval; non-volatile and re-writeable semiconductor storage devices; and non-volatile re-writable semiconductor memory devices that provide fast read speeds under the Micron and Crucial brands, as well as through private labels.